Does the idea of defanging the snake become lost in full contact stickfighting when you wear such heavy gloves (hockey gloves etc). I've always thought this idea was one of the best the FMA had, but with the gloves does its effectiveness drop?

Is it really "real" contact stickfighting if you add hand protection which almost negates the whole idea of defanging the snake.

I understand you can still hit the wrist, forearm, elbow, etc... But do the gloves take the emphasis off the hand as the primary target?

There are NO hockey gloves. The heaviest that anyone wears is "street hockey"-- these are quite light, and several fighters now go with some sort of thin leather glove (e.g. a baseball batting glove) so as to protect the hand from scraping on the fencing mask during clinch and ground but without offering any protection at all from impact.

So in answer to your question, IMHO the hand game remains 90-100% relevant as it ever was.

Gloves of any kind are training equipment, as are rattan sticks. It's difficult to find training partners that are willing to break their hands several times a week, so I think there is a place for wearing thick hockey gloves during training. I do. With thick gloves, it's much more fun to practice hitting the hand. Without such protection, it's difficult to collect an adequate number of repetitions of "defang the snake."

I totally agree with Sting. Other pieces of equipment worth mentioning are the Lameco forearm guards, shin pads, and padded sticks. All of which allow us to put in the amount of training volume to actually get good. All of the above mentioned equipment allow us to drill with contact and "enthusiasm"